Name The Most Famous Americans

The Supreme Court is milking the D.C. gun case for all possible drama, saving the release of its opinion till the last day, so since there's no gun ban action to report on here today, let's play a game about who we are and what this country means to us....

Here's an exercise that tells you something about yourself, your concept of this country, and the state of American education. Professors from the University of Maryland and Stanford surveyed thousands of high school students across the nation, asking them to name the 10 most famous Americans in history--excluding presidents and first ladies.

As you'll see, the exclusion of those more obvious options pushes you to consider a remarkable range of people. Try it with friends and family and I guarantee you there will be some fascinating patterns and some quite distinctive, personally revealing individual choices. I'm about to reveal my own choices and those of high school students across the nation--if you'd like to come to this exercise fresh, write down your list and share it with us on the comment board before reading the rest of this post.....

Here's a couple of lines of space so that you don't see the names quite yet....

.....ok, the names are coming right up....

My list included Edison, Twain, Franklin, Ali, King, Ruth, Einstein, and three men who are not huge enough to be reliably on a single-name basis: Billy Graham, William Jennings Bryan and James Brown.

I had only one name in common with my wife's list (Ali) and four in common with my 17-year-old daughter (Franklin, Ruth, Edison and King.)

The professors who conducted the study weren't interested so much in creating a parlor game as in arguing that 1) U.S. high school students aren't as pathetically ignorant as they're made out to be in national studies and on Jay Leno's moron-on-the-street interviews, and 2) a couple of decades of multicultural education have changed our collective definition of who's important in history.

The study, as reported in Smithsonian Magazine, makes much of the fact that the top 10 that emerged from the high school students did not include the likes of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Kanye West, but rather showed at least a superficial familiarity with some key characters from throughout the American past.

Here's the top five names in the survey of 2,000 high school juniors and seniors:
Martin Luther King
Rosa Parks
Harriet Tubman
Susan B. Anthony
Benjamin Franklin

I'm sorry, but when I read this, I thought the survey had to be either bogus or fundamentally flawed. It indeed turned out to be skewed--intentionally.

Sam Wineburg, a Stanford historian with a keen interest in how and why we learn about history and what can be done to connect today's intellectually peripatetic students to the essential stories of the past, and Chauncey Monte-Sano, a professor of education at UM/College Park, asked the high schoolers to name not only the top 10 famous Americans but also to list 10 "famous women in American history." Then, instead of reporting the two sets of results separately, they blended the lists together. "Thus the questionnaire was weighted toward women," Wineburg writes.

Weighted is putting it mildly. The reported results are wildly altered by the decision to draw conclusions that there is no reason whatever to believe the participants in the survey intended. I put the two survey questions separately to a bunch of folks, and every single person I approached in my totally unscientific sample had a far tougher time coming up with ten women, and in no way considered the 10 women on the list to be as famous or important as the names on their general list (which usually included between one and three women.)

That's not a slight against women, just a reflection of the role women played in American history, especially until recent decades.

As an Emory University English professor notes, however, the Wineburg study seems designed primarily to make a political point about the impact that multicultural education has made on what American high school students know. And sure enough, looking at the lists produced by the professors and by my own mini-sample, most participants were able to search back through their schooling and dredge up names such as Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, Amelia Earhart, and Marian Anderson. But that doesn't tell us that those figures are considered on a par with the women who showed up when people were asked just to name the 10 most famous Americans, without regard to sex (that list included people such as Rosa Parks, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Betsy Ross.)

Wineburg concludes from this exercise that we could all stand to do a little less handwringing about our school system and the state of the American mind. He says the results show more "unity than fragmentation." And surely there is something remarkable and revealing about how this society has changed when we see that four of the top 10 names in the study's results are blacks (King, Parks, Tubman and, most oddly, Oprah Winfrey.)

But I can't be quite as sanguine as the authors of the study about what we collectively understand. This study is essentially a popularity or name recognition test more than it is a judgment of historical weight; after all, the students were asked to name "famous" Americans, not "important" or "historically significant" people.

And what the famous Americans study glosses over is the measurable and sorry still-miserable state of historical knowledge among U.S. students. This is hardly a surprise given the thin gruel that's served up in most high school history classes, where the emphasis is too often on the recent past and on nearly-trivial aspects of American history--a wild overreaction to the overemphasis in previous eras on the political evolution of the country and the role of a handful of great men.

But let's play the professors' game--without their unfortunate blending of results. Name your top 10 famous Americans--and separately your top 10 famous American women--with no presidents or first ladies allowed.

My question is this: Fame in America? Or fame globally? 100 years ago, the general global public would not necessarily have been aware of "famous" Americans, but with the advent of television, print media and the internet, fame is now global.

Betsy Ross is famous in America (and rightly so), but probably not known globally whereas Oprah is known globally.

Product of P.G. County Public Schools - Einstein became an American citizen in the 40's. If the list was looking for Americans by birth, then he should be off the list. If not, then he can stay.

Posted by: Bill | June 25, 2008 12:05 PM

And Pam Anderson is Canadian. (And I'm a little ashamed to admit that I know that.)

Posted by: jane | June 25, 2008 12:18 PM

* Edison (where would we be without electricity and all the other inventions of his?)
* Franklin
* MLK (the conscience of our country in the last half century)
* Babe Ruth (when there was pretty much only one national sport)
* Lindberg (for reasons I can't fathom from today's perspective, it seems that flying across the Atlantic captured the national imagination more than the landing on the moon did in the late 1960s)
* Amelia Earhart (pretty much the same reason)
* Alexander Hamilton (he and Franklin were among the most important non-Presidents in the formative era of the U.S. -- why do you think he's the only non-President with his face on our cash?)
* Mark Twain (how many authors from a century ago do we remember, how many were as widely published, how many are still quoted? Thoreau a bit, yes, but Twain's writings and witicisms were far more widely read)
* Robert Kennedy
* Joe DiMaggio (baseball has been so central to the American psyche, especially before the NFL and NBA became bigger, but by that time baseball had been our national sport for over half a century)

No actors or singers because there are so many of them, their fame tends to be less enduring -- notice how nobody mentioned Cary Grant or Benny Goodman or Betty Davis or Ray Charles or Ella Fitzgerald or Errol Flynn or Billie Holliday or Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra or Gregory Peck? Marilyn Monroe I can see an argument for...she does seem to still be out there, perhaps partly because of the buzz that she might have been the mistress of JFK or RFK or both, but isn't that notoriety rather than fame, to some degree?

I like everyone's list so far but some other considerattions not mentioned above - Ford, Bell, Warhol, Glenn, Wright Brothers

Posted by: 20005 | June 25, 2008 12:35 PM

"This is hardly a surprise given the thin gruel that's served up in most high school history classes, where the emphasis is too often on the recent past"

Marc, you're dead wrong on the emphasis. Actually, most high school U.S. history classes stop well before the present. Do you have any evidence backing up your statement? No? I didn't think so. Read James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong". You should have a good understanding by the end of the book as to exactly why so little is said about the recent past.

To summarize the problem, the recent past, in which a large part of the current population still remembers, is too volatile for textbooks. Because textbooks have to satisfy state boards that run the gamut from normal to right-wing wackos in Texas, they avoid getting into anything too political and contentious, which includes the recent past. And when they do discuss the recent past, they do so in a more superficial manner. Imagine the hubbub if a U.S. history class really got into exactly what was underlying the whole Clinton impeachment scandal. Parents of all political stripes would be complaining about the apparent bias in the class.

Anyway, Marc, I'm waiting for you to explain your evidence for saying such things.

Posted by: Ryan | June 25, 2008 12:36 PM

I looked at this from the angle of Most Famous Americans -- to Americans and Most Famous Americans to the Rest of the World. In order of how I thought of them...

This exercise would be a lot more interesting if people were asked to choose the most famous people in particular categories: scientific, artistic, athletic, political, literary, business, etc. Then we might see names like James Watson, the co-discoverer of DNA, or John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, whom I do not see mentioned in any of the lists above. It also would be interesting to see which categories (scientific? literary?) simply stumped most people. As it is, this survey is just a slightly more sophisticated version of the "Jay-walking" segment on the Tonight Show.

most famous... not necessarily important. I recall reading an article where they said Michael Jordan was more recognizable in the world than Mickey Mouse. And I'm really a little torn about putting Franklin and Edison on the list. Oh well.. .mindless time-wasting exercise... but fun.

The survey is dumb and useless. That list is one that would change almost weekly. A classic case of a professor / polling organization taking money for producing a document of no value whatsoever.

Also, the comment about historical figures in the recent past...as a professor of mine once said, if it happened within the last 50 years, it's not history, it's news. That would eliminate Ali, any Kennedy (except old Joe), King, Elvis, Jordan, OJ, Reagan (except as a movie actor), and a number of others.

Any list of women that excludes First Ladies is bound to include more recent names simply due to changing cultural standards that allow women a bigger role in society now than 100 years ago. I considered listing Martha Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson's wife) because she was never a First Lady--she died before he became president--but as I reflected on it I was thinking that (a) I don't know much about her other than her name and (b) I think the only reason I know even that much is because I went to UVA and there's a hospital in Charlottesville named for her.

I think the post from Ryan at 12:36 PM makes some good points. It's been 20 years since my high school days, but I recall the 20th century ALWAYS getting short shrift in history classes. The teachers always dawdled on the Colonial period and then ran out of time to cover the 20th century. I agree that anything more recent than Watergate was absolutely too recent when I was in school, and even Watergate bore covering only on a "just-the-facts" style of teaching because it was still quite recent in the scheme of things. I don't know whether the dawdling on Colonial times was because the teachers felt like they had lots of time in the school year or because they were more comfortable with that material, though.

Posted by: Rich | June 25, 2008 3:05 PM

Einstein was an American citizen for many years. And for those who call him 'German', he was born in Germany, yes, but as a child his family bounced around Italy and Switzerland. Einstein eventually got his university education in Switzerland and became a Swiss civil servant for several years working as a patent examiner (though he was passed over for promotion because it was felt he didn't understand machines well enough). From there he lived in Prague and it wasn't until he was 35 that he moved back to Germany. he lived there for only 20 years before fleeing. So, given all that and the fact that the government in Germany at the time thought he and his fellow Jews to be unworthy of their great nation, I think they lost the right to lay claim to him!

Posted by: once and for all | June 25, 2008 3:12 PM

Late to the game, so just trying to come up with someone not yet mentioned:

George Lucas?

Posted by: CJMiva | June 25, 2008 3:19 PM

Oh, one other who like Einstein was born in Germany but became a US citizen:

Levi Strauss

Posted by: CJMiva | June 25, 2008 3:24 PM

Einstein became famous when he was a German citizen, so that kept him off my list, but hey, why not claim him?

MLK, Jr., if you please. It really bugs me how people leave off the Junior. Seems a technicality, but it's a whole other person.
.

Just didn't think of them but they should have replaced someone else on my list: MLK, Edison

I considered Einstein but thought he may not count.

People who I wish I had thought of and considered: Patton, Twain, Oprah, Elvis, Ali, Marilyn Monroe, and MacArthur.

Posted by: Phil | June 25, 2008 4:14 PM

I find Fisher's statement and list to be particularly bias. First, when asked to create the list, it is obvious he did not think of women because he only included one. Second, this is not due to the diminished role that women have played in American history. This is due to the bias reflected in American history. Public high schools and their textbooks do not include women who have made significant contributions to our society besides the mention of Harriet Tubman or Susan B. Anthony for the purpose of making sure that they can say they acknowledged both sexes. What about Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Betty Fridan? Gloria Steinem?

Women are missing from this list but this is not because they did not play a large role in American history. This is because those who write history have failed to include them in it due to past biases.

Posted by: lchlava | June 25, 2008 4:15 PM

"Very sad to see that not one of you listed Abraham Lincoln, the greatest American who ever lived - past present and future."

ROFL! This just proves the point about ignorant people. What part of "excluding presidents and first ladies" was unclear to you?

Posted by: Rich | June 25, 2008 4:21 PM

Biff Griff, I wholeheartedly agree that Abe Lincoln is the greatest, but presidents and their wives are all to be excluded per Marc's instructions.

Others I struggled with but did not write down were Jeff Davis, Sandra Day O'Connor, Bill Gates, Daniel Webster, Warren Buffett, Gens. Patton & MacArthur. In retrospect, Rosa Parks probably should have gone on the list instead of Betsy Ross.

It was a fascinating exercise: does "famous" mean celebrity-famous, historically famous, or what? How do you choose? Very interesting - and I felt so dumb when I read what others posted and saw some of the folks I missed.

Posted by: Courthouseguy | June 25, 2008 7:17 PM

The education of high schoolers may not be in as bad shape as we thought, but that of university researchers is far worse!

Posted by: Anonymous | June 25, 2008 7:40 PM

Composed before I saw the list (and realized I had completely overlooked sports figures) or looked at other postings (and realized I had overlooked figures famous for accomplishments in industry or just for being rich):

famous Americans "in history" (I interpreted this as meaning people who are deceased who would be most familiar to the general population):

Interestingly we don't have many famous Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, or native Americans that readily pop into people's mind. We know about MLK and his philosophical contemporary rival Malcom X, but not many others. Women usually include the right to vote people, the underground railroad champion, or the lady who made flags. Does all this indicate a white male bias in our recorded history or just an accurate reflection of the people who had enough social power and access to make "famous" contributions?

Posted by: James Doe | June 25, 2008 9:51 PM

When does someone become famous? Other than Bill Gates (and Oprah in the article) most people have no one listed from the past 3 or 4 decades.

Posted by: John Doe | June 25, 2008 9:57 PM

I'm embarrassed to say that the first name I came up with was Elvis. I'm even more embarrassed that King and Einstein didn't occur to me at all. In the order they occurred to me:

GM...
Um, Sir Walter Raleigh is most known for setling the area now referred to as the Outer Banks in NORTH CAROLINA...which is probably why the state capital is named for him...you have heard of the Lost Colony, near Manteo, haven't you...
And can anyone name the first English citizen born in the New World?

Virginia Dare, born in the same colony. There is a Dare County in coastal NC as well.

Based on your comments, perhaps it is you who needs a bit of education.

The question you posed: 10 most famous Americans in history... you answered Ali.. is he most famous in history or most famous athlete? The same could be said for Twain... is he most famous in history or most famous author? I would assume when one asks for the most famous people in American history, one would be looking for those who directly impacted government, policy, national interests, etc. So perhaps the question you asked is ambiguous.

Secondly, your comment about the role women played is not a slight, just a total lack of education. Eleanor Roosevelt anyone? She wasn't a president, but she sure acted like one!!

Posted by: LEK | June 26, 2008 7:03 AM

Elvis
Leadbelly
Meatloaf
Patsy Cline
Bob Hope

Posted by: Jeb | June 26, 2008 9:27 AM

This listing of "great" Americans is just another reason why my wife honeschools our children. The Deweyite-Gramcsi brainwashing continues in the public schools.